May 4, 2026 • 12 mins
We zoom out to the bigger modeling hobby community. We recap our trip to the AMPS International Convention in South Bend, Indiana, from standout vendors to the simple joy of photographing great models without hovering too close with a phone. We also look ahead to Wonderfest at the end of May, including the added buzz around the 60th anniversary of Star Trek and what that could mean for sci-fi modeling, vendors, and themed builds on the tables.
We close with what keeps the momentum going between shows: the Dojo. With thousands of members and growing daily, the best part is watching shop talk turn into practical, tested advice, like super glue discussions and new acrylic metallic paint tips for a convincing bare metal finish. Listen through, then subscribe, share the episode with a modeling friend, and leave a review so more builders can find the show.
Don't forget MOJO15 gets you 15% off your order with KitMasx!
Your source for Harder & Steenbeck Airbrushes, Mixing supplies, and great advice!
SQUADRON
Adding to the stash since 1968
Model Podcasts
Please check out the other pods in the modelsphere!
KitMasx
Custom Canopy Masks for the Scale Modeler
Bases By Bill
Your source for custom display bases, laser engraved airfield and carrier decks.
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.
Give us your Feedback!
Rate the Show!
Support the Show!
Patreon
Buy Me a Beer
Paypal
Bump Riffs Graciously Provided by Ed Baroth
Ad Reads Generously Provided by Bob "The Voice of Bob" Bair
Mike and Kentucky Dave thank each and everyone of you for participating on this journey with us.
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Janelle (KitMasx) (00:00):
Kev, tell everyone why you started Kit
Mask.
Kevin (KITMASX) (00:02):
Well, manually masking canopies sucks, and
somebody had to step in to savethose countless kits from the
shelf of Doom.
Janelle (KitMasx) (00:09):
And now we've got over 400 sets and counting.
We've got old kits, new kits,forgotten kits, you name it.
Kevin (KITMASX) (00:14):
Yeah.
And if we don't have it, justask.
Janelle (KitMasx) (00:16):
Yeah, people don't realize we take custom
requests and we even have aservice that gets you canopy
masks for free.
Kevin (KITMASX) (00:21):
We do.
Janelle (KitMasx) (00:22):
Our masks are precision cut, they fit well,
they're easy to apply.
Kevin cuts and tests every set.
Kevin (KITMASX) (00:28):
Several times.
Janelle (KitMasx) (00:29):
Yeah.
Precision is kind of his thing.
Kevin (KITMASX) (00:31):
And Janelle, she does everything else.
She cares about each customerand is the heart of our
business.
Janelle (KitMasx) (00:37):
If you ever reach out, you're talking
directly to us.
Real people, real modelers.
Kevin (KITMASX) (00:41):
And if you don't love your masks, we'll
refund or replace them.
No questions asked.
Janelle (KitMasx) (00:46):
Visit kitmask.com, join the mailing
list, and treat yourself toeasier, cleaner masking.
Kevin (KITMASX) (00:51):
Kitmask, made by a modeler for modelers.
Janelle (KitMasx) (00:54):
Hey, what about me?
Kevin (KITMASX) (00:55):
You're not a modeler.
Mike (01:09):
It is indeed.
Kentucky Dave (01:14):
I'm telling you, it is amazing.
Mike (01:18):
Had a little tight travel to do at the first of the month,
so I'm back now.
Exhausted, but uh that's what'sgoing on, man.
Kentucky Dave (01:30):
Honest to gosh, it seems like just a week ago it
was January, and I was lookingforward to HeritageCon.
And here we are.
It's the beginning of May, andI'm looking forward to
Wonderfest.
Well, we've been some places,we've been a place.
Yes, we have.
Mike (01:49):
In in April, we went to the Armor Modeling Preservation
Society's InternationalConvention in South Bend,
Indiana.
Kentucky Dave (01:56):
Yep.
And I'd like to thank JohnSharvott and all of the all of
the guys who were responsiblefor putting that show on.
It was, as usual, a really goodshow with really good vendors in
a really good space with someamazing models.
I got to take my new DSLR cameraup there and trying to get the
(02:20):
hang of it and got to shoot alot of models with that instead
of the cell phone.
Mike (02:26):
Yeah, you can not be so close to the table and risk
dropping your phone onsomething.
Kentucky Dave (02:30):
Exactly.
That's one of the majormotivations, my friend, because
with my uh with my essentialtremor, I live in fear of a mo
of a phone slipping out of myhands.
Mike (02:42):
I would hate to have to say, man, I don't even I don't
know who that guy is.
Kentucky Dave (02:46):
And you would.
I know you you'd do that in asecond.
Although since I'm wearing thecheckerboard PMM shirt, it'd be
kind of hard to deny.
I don't know where he got it.
I don't know.
Yeah, right.
Mike (02:59):
We lost one a couple years ago.
Kentucky Dave (03:00):
He he stole that from my table.
Get him.
Mike (03:04):
Well, that's where we've been.
And you know, that facility isnice, but man, it can swallow a
crowd.
So I'm I'm need to go back andlook and just see how good a
show it was for those guysbecause uh it's a good time.
It's a good town to have a showin.
I I kind of like it there.
Kentucky Dave (03:19):
And man, this year with the synergy that they
had a tabletop gaming conventionand an esports tournament going
on inside the same facility.
That was way cool.
I ducked into both of thosethings to watch them, to watch a
little bit and uh to walk walkthrough the different uh groups,
(03:41):
and it was really cool.
Mike (03:42):
That was a good attend for us.
That was in April.
We are gonna try to get to ashow here locally to us, but not
a small one here in in uhLouisville, Kentucky, Dave.
Yep.
Wonderfest is coming up at thevery, very end of the month, the
last weekend of the month, the30th and 31st of May.
Kentucky Dave (04:00):
Which is the week after Memorial Day, which is
good.
Mike (04:04):
I think they told us one time they made that mistake one
time.
Kentucky Dave (04:08):
Yes.
Mike (04:09):
That was probably tough.
That said, this one's a littlespecial.
Kentucky Dave (04:13):
It is because it's the 60th anniversary of
Star Trek.
Mike (04:18):
So I imagine it's gonna be a little final frontier heavy,
which is cool.
Kentucky Dave (04:23):
Yeah.
Mike (04:24):
So I'm really hoping to be able to make it out there for
the Saturday.
Kentucky Dave (04:27):
They always have a good contingent of Star Trek
merchandise, Star Trek vendors,yeah, lots of Star Trek themed
models, and I suspect that thisyear is going to be off the hook
in that regard.
Mike (04:45):
Well, I've not looked at the the website in too much
detail yet to see if they'redoing anything special in that
regard.
I s I would not be surprised ifthey are, but I don't know off
the top of my head.
I guess we'll find out soonenough.
Kentucky Dave (04:59):
We will.
Mike (04:59):
Be good to see you there, man.
We'll try to make a day of it.
Kentucky Dave (05:02):
Yeah, that's right.
Come over, we can roast someburgers and some chicken legs.
In fact, they they came andopened the or took the cover off
my pool today.
Mike (05:12):
Okay.
Kentucky Dave (05:13):
You wouldn't you wouldn't want to go swimming in
it yet.
Mike (05:16):
It's a little brown.
Kentucky Dave (05:18):
Uh a little brown.
Mike (05:20):
Okay, well, I'm sure you'll take care of that,
Kentucky.
Kentucky Dave (05:23):
Not a code brown, but just leaf brown.
Mike (05:26):
Got some tannins in the water.
Kentucky Dave (05:28):
Yes, some tannins in the water, got some cleanup
to do, but it's it should be bythe time you get here at the end
of May, clear water and warm.
Mike (06:01):
Well, Dave, we got two feature episodes coming up in
May.
It'll be giving you onesixty-three and one sixty-four.
And we've gotten a lot oflistener input over the last, I
don't know, a couple months, Iguess.
And we're gonna do two kind ofshop talkie episodes this month
for both of those, 163 and 164,and probably gonna have somebody
(06:24):
in third chair for 164.
Kentucky Dave (06:26):
Yeah.
Mike (06:27):
We'll surprise folks.
I think 163 is pretty solid forthe content.
But listeners, if you gotsomething you'd like us to to
expound on in 164, uh get ussome listener mail and get that
in before mid-month, and uh wecan work that one into the
content if it looks looks uhpromising.
So you can do that atplasticmile mojo at gmail.com or
(06:49):
send them to uh Dave through thedirect messaging system with
Facebook, and uh we'llappreciate any input you guys
have for uh shop talk topics.
Kentucky Dave (06:57):
And Mike and I really do want to talk about
stuff you want to hear.
So it's really important to usfor to hear from you all and to
hear you tell us, hey, talkabout this or what about that,
or what do you think of thisquestion, whatever it is.
We appreciate that kind offeedback because we were doing
(07:19):
this in no small part for thelisteners, and we want you to
feel part ownership in thepodcast, and that's one way you
can do it.
Mike (07:32):
It is so we look forward to putting those together, and
that should be a couple of funepisodes, Dave.
Yes, it should.
I know the dojo has been rampingup, man.
Kentucky Dave (07:47):
Uh yes, it has.
Mike (07:49):
What are we looking at there right now?
Kentucky Dave (07:51):
Well, it as of this recording, we are at 5,770
members.
We're adding one to two membersa day.
You have the occasional dropoutfrom a bot or something, but uh
steady upward growth.
I'm just amazed.
I I look back and honest togosh, it was less than six,
(08:13):
seven months ago.
And I was telling you, man, ifwe could get 10 or 12 good posts
a day on the dojo, that wouldjust be fantastic.
And now hardly a day goes bywhere we don't have 20, 25
posts, and some particular,usually weekends, you know, we
(08:37):
can have upwards of 30, 35posts, not to mention all the
people interacting back andforth on the topics, commenting,
sharing.
We've had some great technicalposts lately.
The one about super glue.
I think you you might haveactually started that one.
Mike (08:58):
No, I didn't start it.
Somebody posted that in I thinkin response to the topic on the
on the podcast, which issomething I want to bring up.
It's really cool the thecarryover from a a podcast topic
making its way onto the dojo andthen back and forth.
And that's really kind of theway I envisioned the thing,
hopefully working at some point.
(09:18):
So we seem to be getting there.
Really appreciate thosetechnical posts.
In fact, there was one from alistener, I can't recall the
name, that was posted uh in thelast few days about a a new
acrylic metallic paint.
Yes.
Being used for a bare metalfinish.
So uh I think it had a YouTubevideo posted with it, or video
(09:38):
was coming soon from thisperson.
I'm gonna be looking for thatone to come up.
So that one's certainlyinteresting.
But uh really liking the factthat folks are uh piling on a
little bit onto some of thesetopics we've been had on the on
the uh on the podcast.
And it's I think it's helping usget a lot of information around
a you know a specific topic andhopefully helping some people.
Kentucky Dave (09:58):
Yeah, you know, that kind of technical
information.
I mean, I love to see completedbuilds, I love to see in
progress, I love to see all ofthat.
But sometimes the theinformation regarding a new
product, uh a new paint, uh newsuper glue, a new PVA glue,
different things.
(10:18):
When that gets posted and peoplestart trying it, and then they
say, Well, I've tried this orthis worked for me, etc.
That's the kind of interactionthat I, not only as you and I
doing this podcast, but I as amodel and a reader want to see.
I really like that stuff.
(10:39):
I will find myself at the dojogoing through posts, and I'll
go, oh, I need to write a write,I've got that little notepad
with me, that little reporter'snotebook, and I will literally
write down a note because it'sthe the downside of Facebook is
that stuff streams by and it'shard to re-find it.
Mike (11:00):
If you forget to you can save a post now, or you could do
that for a long time, but I'vegot so many of those now, it's
kind of hard even to it's hardto look through them.
Kentucky Dave (11:08):
But uh yeah, so I mean I'll find myself doing
that, uh jotting down.
Oh, I want to I want to look atthis or I want to try this, or
I've got three or four things inthe notebook right now that I
need to go back and revisit.
Mike (11:21):
Well, folks, we thank you for the interaction there.
Let's keep it up and hopefullyit'll keep growing, Dave, and
people will get a lot of use outof it.
Yep, that's what we want.
All right, folks.
Well, that's gonna be May.
We look forward to bringing youthe content and keep on
modeling, keep on sending usemails, and let's get on with
it, man.
Yep, let's go model.
Kev, tell everyone why you started Kit
Mask.
Kevin (KITMASX) (00:02):
Well, manually masking canopies sucks, and
somebody had to step in to savethose countless kits from the
shelf of Doom.
Janelle (KitMasx) (00:09):
And now we've got over 400 sets and counting.
We've got old kits, new kits,forgotten kits, you name it.
Kevin (KITMASX) (00:14):
Yeah.
And if we don't have it, justask.
Janelle (KitMasx) (00:16):
Yeah, people don't realize we take custom
requests and we even have aservice that gets you canopy
masks for free.
Kevin (KITMASX) (00:21):
We do.
Janelle (KitMasx) (00:22):
Our masks are precision cut, they fit well,
they're easy to apply.
Kevin cuts and tests every set.
Kevin (KITMASX) (00:28):
Several times.
Janelle (KitMasx) (00:29):
Yeah.
Precision is kind of his thing.
Kevin (KITMASX) (00:31):
And Janelle, she does everything else.
She cares about each customerand is the heart of our
business.
Janelle (KitMasx) (00:37):
If you ever reach out, you're talking
directly to us.
Real people, real modelers.
Kevin (KITMASX) (00:41):
And if you don't love your masks, we'll
refund or replace them.
No questions asked.
Janelle (KitMasx) (00:46):
Visit kitmask.com, join the mailing
list, and treat yourself toeasier, cleaner masking.
Kevin (KITMASX) (00:51):
Kitmask, made by a modeler for modelers.
Janelle (KitMasx) (00:54):
Hey, what about me?
Kevin (KITMASX) (00:55):
You're not a modeler.
Mike (01:09):
It is indeed.
Kentucky Dave (01:14):
I'm telling you, it is amazing.
Mike (01:18):
Had a little tight travel to do at the first of the month,
so I'm back now.
Exhausted, but uh that's what'sgoing on, man.
Kentucky Dave (01:30):
Honest to gosh, it seems like just a week ago it
was January, and I was lookingforward to HeritageCon.
And here we are.
It's the beginning of May, andI'm looking forward to
Wonderfest.
Well, we've been some places,we've been a place.
Yes, we have.
Mike (01:49):
In in April, we went to the Armor Modeling Preservation
Society's InternationalConvention in South Bend,
Indiana.
Kentucky Dave (01:56):
Yep.
And I'd like to thank JohnSharvott and all of the all of
the guys who were responsiblefor putting that show on.
It was, as usual, a really goodshow with really good vendors in
a really good space with someamazing models.
I got to take my new DSLR cameraup there and trying to get the
(02:20):
hang of it and got to shoot alot of models with that instead
of the cell phone.
Mike (02:26):
Yeah, you can not be so close to the table and risk
dropping your phone onsomething.
Kentucky Dave (02:30):
Exactly.
That's one of the majormotivations, my friend, because
with my uh with my essentialtremor, I live in fear of a mo
of a phone slipping out of myhands.
Mike (02:42):
I would hate to have to say, man, I don't even I don't
know who that guy is.
Kentucky Dave (02:46):
And you would.
I know you you'd do that in asecond.
Although since I'm wearing thecheckerboard PMM shirt, it'd be
kind of hard to deny.
I don't know where he got it.
I don't know.
Yeah, right.
Mike (02:59):
We lost one a couple years ago.
Kentucky Dave (03:00):
He he stole that from my table.
Get him.
Mike (03:04):
Well, that's where we've been.
And you know, that facility isnice, but man, it can swallow a
crowd.
So I'm I'm need to go back andlook and just see how good a
show it was for those guysbecause uh it's a good time.
It's a good town to have a showin.
I I kind of like it there.
Kentucky Dave (03:19):
And man, this year with the synergy that they
had a tabletop gaming conventionand an esports tournament going
on inside the same facility.
That was way cool.
I ducked into both of thosethings to watch them, to watch a
little bit and uh to walk walkthrough the different uh groups,
(03:41):
and it was really cool.
Mike (03:42):
That was a good attend for us.
That was in April.
We are gonna try to get to ashow here locally to us, but not
a small one here in in uhLouisville, Kentucky, Dave.
Yep.
Wonderfest is coming up at thevery, very end of the month, the
last weekend of the month, the30th and 31st of May.
Kentucky Dave (04:00):
Which is the week after Memorial Day, which is
good.
Mike (04:04):
I think they told us one time they made that mistake one
time.
Kentucky Dave (04:08):
Yes.
Mike (04:09):
That was probably tough.
That said, this one's a littlespecial.
Kentucky Dave (04:13):
It is because it's the 60th anniversary of
Star Trek.
Mike (04:18):
So I imagine it's gonna be a little final frontier heavy,
which is cool.
Kentucky Dave (04:23):
Yeah.
Mike (04:24):
So I'm really hoping to be able to make it out there for
the Saturday.
Kentucky Dave (04:27):
They always have a good contingent of Star Trek
merchandise, Star Trek vendors,yeah, lots of Star Trek themed
models, and I suspect that thisyear is going to be off the hook
in that regard.
Mike (04:45):
Well, I've not looked at the the website in too much
detail yet to see if they'redoing anything special in that
regard.
I s I would not be surprised ifthey are, but I don't know off
the top of my head.
I guess we'll find out soonenough.
Kentucky Dave (04:59):
We will.
Mike (04:59):
Be good to see you there, man.
We'll try to make a day of it.
Kentucky Dave (05:02):
Yeah, that's right.
Come over, we can roast someburgers and some chicken legs.
In fact, they they came andopened the or took the cover off
my pool today.
Mike (05:12):
Okay.
Kentucky Dave (05:13):
You wouldn't you wouldn't want to go swimming in
it yet.
Mike (05:16):
It's a little brown.
Kentucky Dave (05:18):
Uh a little brown.
Mike (05:20):
Okay, well, I'm sure you'll take care of that,
Kentucky.
Kentucky Dave (05:23):
Not a code brown, but just leaf brown.
Mike (05:26):
Got some tannins in the water.
Kentucky Dave (05:28):
Yes, some tannins in the water, got some cleanup
to do, but it's it should be bythe time you get here at the end
of May, clear water and warm.
Mike (06:01):
Well, Dave, we got two feature episodes coming up in
May.
It'll be giving you onesixty-three and one sixty-four.
And we've gotten a lot oflistener input over the last, I
don't know, a couple months, Iguess.
And we're gonna do two kind ofshop talkie episodes this month
for both of those, 163 and 164,and probably gonna have somebody
(06:24):
in third chair for 164.
Kentucky Dave (06:26):
Yeah.
Mike (06:27):
We'll surprise folks.
I think 163 is pretty solid forthe content.
But listeners, if you gotsomething you'd like us to to
expound on in 164, uh get ussome listener mail and get that
in before mid-month, and uh wecan work that one into the
content if it looks looks uhpromising.
So you can do that atplasticmile mojo at gmail.com or
(06:49):
send them to uh Dave through thedirect messaging system with
Facebook, and uh we'llappreciate any input you guys
have for uh shop talk topics.
Kentucky Dave (06:57):
And Mike and I really do want to talk about
stuff you want to hear.
So it's really important to usfor to hear from you all and to
hear you tell us, hey, talkabout this or what about that,
or what do you think of thisquestion, whatever it is.
We appreciate that kind offeedback because we were doing
(07:19):
this in no small part for thelisteners, and we want you to
feel part ownership in thepodcast, and that's one way you
can do it.
Mike (07:32):
It is so we look forward to putting those together, and
that should be a couple of funepisodes, Dave.
Yes, it should.
I know the dojo has been rampingup, man.
Kentucky Dave (07:47):
Uh yes, it has.
Mike (07:49):
What are we looking at there right now?
Kentucky Dave (07:51):
Well, it as of this recording, we are at 5,770
members.
We're adding one to two membersa day.
You have the occasional dropoutfrom a bot or something, but uh
steady upward growth.
I'm just amazed.
I I look back and honest togosh, it was less than six,
(08:13):
seven months ago.
And I was telling you, man, ifwe could get 10 or 12 good posts
a day on the dojo, that wouldjust be fantastic.
And now hardly a day goes bywhere we don't have 20, 25
posts, and some particular,usually weekends, you know, we
(08:37):
can have upwards of 30, 35posts, not to mention all the
people interacting back andforth on the topics, commenting,
sharing.
We've had some great technicalposts lately.
The one about super glue.
I think you you might haveactually started that one.
Mike (08:58):
No, I didn't start it.
Somebody posted that in I thinkin response to the topic on the
on the podcast, which issomething I want to bring up.
It's really cool the thecarryover from a a podcast topic
making its way onto the dojo andthen back and forth.
And that's really kind of theway I envisioned the thing,
hopefully working at some point.
(09:18):
So we seem to be getting there.
Really appreciate thosetechnical posts.
In fact, there was one from alistener, I can't recall the
name, that was posted uh in thelast few days about a a new
acrylic metallic paint.
Yes.
Being used for a bare metalfinish.
So uh I think it had a YouTubevideo posted with it, or video
(09:38):
was coming soon from thisperson.
I'm gonna be looking for thatone to come up.
So that one's certainlyinteresting.
But uh really liking the factthat folks are uh piling on a
little bit onto some of thesetopics we've been had on the on
the uh on the podcast.
And it's I think it's helping usget a lot of information around
a you know a specific topic andhopefully helping some people.
Kentucky Dave (09:58):
Yeah, you know, that kind of technical
information.
I mean, I love to see completedbuilds, I love to see in
progress, I love to see all ofthat.
But sometimes the theinformation regarding a new
product, uh a new paint, uh newsuper glue, a new PVA glue,
different things.
(10:18):
When that gets posted and peoplestart trying it, and then they
say, Well, I've tried this orthis worked for me, etc.
That's the kind of interactionthat I, not only as you and I
doing this podcast, but I as amodel and a reader want to see.
I really like that stuff.
(10:39):
I will find myself at the dojogoing through posts, and I'll
go, oh, I need to write a write,I've got that little notepad
with me, that little reporter'snotebook, and I will literally
write down a note because it'sthe the downside of Facebook is
that stuff streams by and it'shard to re-find it.
Mike (11:00):
If you forget to you can save a post now, or you could do
that for a long time, but I'vegot so many of those now, it's
kind of hard even to it's hardto look through them.
Kentucky Dave (11:08):
But uh yeah, so I mean I'll find myself doing
that, uh jotting down.
Oh, I want to I want to look atthis or I want to try this, or
I've got three or four things inthe notebook right now that I
need to go back and revisit.
Mike (11:21):
Well, folks, we thank you for the interaction there.
Let's keep it up and hopefullyit'll keep growing, Dave, and
people will get a lot of use outof it.
Yep, that's what we want.
All right, folks.
Well, that's gonna be May.
We look forward to bringing youthe content and keep on
modeling, keep on sending usemails, and let's get on with
it, man.
Yep, let's go model.
Popular Podcasts
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
Bleep! with Ana Navarro
Fear thrives in silence and confusion. Ana Navarro rejects both. Her voice is an antidote to today’s chaos. Her new podcast, Bleep! with Ana Navarro, takes on today’s most pressing issues with the voices most connected to it: decision-makers, political leaders, cultural shapers, and people on the frontlines of the story. The conversations acknowledge the emotions we all feel—despair, sadness, fear— but emerge with knowledge, perspective, and hope. The belief is simple: fearless dialogue can transform fear into courage, and courage into change. When fear dominates the headlines, this show digs deeper. Because information, debate, and conversation don’t just ease fear, they give us power to shape the future.
Hey Jonas!
Hey Jonas! The official Jonas Brothers podcast. Hosted by Kevin, Joe, and Nick Jonas. It’s the Jonas Brothers you know... musicians, actors, and well, yes, brothers. Now, they’re sharing another side of themselves in the playful, intimate, and irreverent way only they can. Spend time with the Jonas Brothers here and stay a little bit longer for deep conversations like never before.